


Better Next Time

by RoseisaRoseisaRose



Series: Fluffcember 2020 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Academy phase, F/M, Fluffcember 2020, Sort of hurt/comfort, marianne is . . . not that comforting I guess, very mild references to violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseisaRoseisaRose/pseuds/RoseisaRoseisaRose
Summary: Dimitri realizes, with shock, that Marianne is mad at him.Written for the Fluffcember 2020 writing challenge, for the prompt "Recovery"
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Marianne von Edmund
Series: Fluffcember 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046863
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Better Next Time

Dimitri knew something was wrong with Marianne as soon as he woke up.

He wouldn’t admit favoritism among classmates, but he was always secretly happy when Marianne was working in the infirmary. She had a gentleness about her that he found calming, a quiet sympathy for her patients that Lindhardt or Manuela or even Mercedes never quite matched.

Not today, though. When she noticed he was awake, she didn’t have so much as a smile for him. At first he worried she was injured, or tired, or overburdened. But as she leaned over him to dress his wounds, he noted the downward curve at her lips and he realized.

“You’re mad at me,” he said, shocked but certain.

Marianne wanted to lie; he could see it on her face. But she was a terrible liar.

“Yes,” she finally said, tying off a bandage a little too tightly.

“Why?” Dimitri asked. “Have a been a poor patient? Or a poor leader?”  _ Or a poor friend _ , he mentally added, but Marianne was outright frowning now, so he didn’t ask.

“It’s none of those things,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. Please stop asking about it.”

Dimitri tried to reconstruct the last moments of battle before he’d collapsed. He should have returned to the back lines for healing, it was true, but his injuries had seemed minor until they weren’t. A grazing arrow here, a possibly poisonous sword there, an axe hit that he should have avoided if he’d been paying proper attention –

Oh.

“You’re mad because I kept that bandit off you,” he said. Marianne didn’t respond, but he knew he was right. “He barely hit me, Marianne! It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about! You’ve been unconscious for  _ eight hours _ ,” Marianne exclaimed, the loudest outburst he’d heard from her all evening. She seemed to realize this, and retreated in on herself. “I told you to stay away,” she said bitterly. “And looked what happened.”

They sat in silence for a moment as she continued her work. Then, before he could stop it, a small laugh escaped Dimitri’s lips.

“What?” Marianne asked, pulling away quickly. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, it’s just . . .” Dimitri trailed off, then tried again. “I’ve spent my whole life disappointing those I’ve been unable to protect. You’re the first person I’ve known to be angry at me because I  _ was _ able to protect you. It’s . . . rather nice.”

“You think it’s nice that I’m angry with you?” Marianne said, knitting her eyebrows together in a frown.

Dimitri attempted a shrug, but it hurt to move his arms. “I think everything about you is nice, Marianne. Even when you’re angry.” He could feel his eyelids growing heavy; she was right, this was not going to be an easy recovery. “I’ll do better . . . next time,” he promised her before slipping back to sleep.

The last thing he saw was her searching, careful eyes. She no longer looked angry.

**Author's Note:**

> Marianne is shy, but she has absolutely no qualms with yelling softly at the crown prince of Faerghus, and I really respect that about her.
> 
> If you'd like to find more Fluffcember vignettes, you can check out [ my twitter thread ](https://twitter.com/Rose3Writes/status/1333858833576325120) of them. You can also see the full prompt list [here](https://twitter.com/doop_doop2/status/1306753380182712321)!


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